Door-operating mechanism



S. J. STRID.

DOOR OPERAHNG MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILE'D NOV. l, 1917. 1,338,755.

Patented May 4, 1920.A

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J/ lIIIIII WM f5 JNVENTOR t" SvefzJSfrL'd By L J /fg TURN s. 1. 5mm. DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM. I APPLICATION FILED NOV. l, I9I7.

'Patented May 4,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVE/vroR. 50e/1 J. zn'd Y' TOR EY l STATES PATENT; OFFICE.

SVEN J'. STRID, OF CHICAGO HEIGHTS, ILLIOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WILLIAM H. MINER, 0F CHAZY, NEW YORK.

Doonfornrwrme iuncnnnrsn.

To all 'whom t may conce/m:

' Chicago Heights vlarged sectional view,

larged vertical sectional view,

Be it known that I, 'SVEN J. S'rRID', a citizen of the United States, residing at in the county of book and State oflllinois, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Dooi'-,

Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise', and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in door operating mechanism, and more particularly, to door operating mechanism for refrigerator cars.

One object of the invention is to provide a simple, easily operable yand eicient mechanism for positively forcing pivoted doors, such as refrigerator car doors, to fully closed vposition and also to positively open the doors.

More specific objects of the invention are to provide a door operating mechanism of the general type above indicated wherein is employed a* rotatable shaft having gear teeth thereon which coperateu with fixed rack keepers; and to provide a rack and gear operating mechanism having a variable leverage ratio .so designed that the maxi mum leverage is obtained in closing the door during the final movement and also during the,initial movement in the opening operation. f, 'i v In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a 'side elevation of a portion of a side wall of a refrigerator car showing my improvements -in connection therewith, `the doors being illustrated in isa horizontal en-v taken substantially 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig.

closed position. 2

on the line taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. laparts being brokenaway to avoid crowding of the drawing. Fig. 4 is la view lsimilar to Fig. 2, but illustrating the position of the parts when the door 1s artly open. 5 is a view similar tov ig. 2, illustrating another embodiment of the invention.

Referring first to the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, 10 denotes the threshold of the door frame of a refrigerator car, 11 the lnte1,an d 12-12 the) side posts. As is usual 'Specification of Letters Patent.' Application mea Nvepibr 1,1917. serial which coperates keeper 20 diferin member I reference 3 is an en-` `forked at Fig.'

Patented May 4, 1920.

No.199,75s.`

in refrigerator car doors, two pivoted door members' lare employed,y the same beingl designated -as 13 and 14. The former is adapted to be closed first and is provided with an inclined or beveled edge 15 with the corresponding beveled or inclined edge 16 of the door member 14. As is also usual, insulating packing is employed toY seal the joint between the beveled edges 15- and 16, said insulation being indicated diagrammatically at 17 in Fig. 2, and as will be understood, the insulating packing 17 necessitates forcing thedoor member 14 to closed position with considerable pressure. Each of the door members 13 and 14 is preferably pivotall mounted on three sets of hinges for eac as indicated at 18-18. i

For closing, locking and opening the door, the following arrangementvv is employed: Secured'to the lintel 11 is a cornbine'd rack and keeper 19 and to 'the threshold 10 is secured a corresponding rack and somewhat in details as hereinafter descri ed from the Vrack and keeper 19, Each 2O is provided with a relatively short rack 21 curved on an arc concentricwith the pivotal axis of the door member 14, and, for strength, each of the racks 21 is braced by flanges 22 and 23. Mounted on the door 14 are two bearings 24-24 adjacent the upper and lower edges of the door member, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1. Rotatably mounted in said bearings 24 is the operating shaft, desi nated generally by the A. Sai shaft A, kas shown, is preferably made 'in three pieces, a entral rectangular merc'ial form, and 'upper castings 26--26.

its inner end, as indicated at 26-26"so as to fit over the adjacent end of the bar 25 and to which it is rigidly secured as by rivets 27. Each end casting 26 is further provided with a journal section 28` fittingin the correspondlng'bearing 24,-,

l't` noted thatl shoulders 29 arefl On the extreme ends of the casting-S26 e end castin s 26 so as to limi-t the shaft AA'with" rack and keeper 19 and are formed partial gears 30-30, the same bein adapted to coperate with the racks 21. n addition, each end casting 26 is providedv with' a somewhat elongated finger or projection 3 1 which, when closing the door member 14, is adapted to engage the end 32 ofthe correspondin rack keeper 19 or 20, as clearly shown inl ig. 4. By this arrangement, proper engagement of the gears and racks is insured slnce the operator, when bringing the door member 14 to closed position, so positions the shaft A that said projections 31 will engage the ends 32 of the keepers before he begins to rotate the shaft and thus effect the final closin movement of the door member 14. A ter the parts have been engaged, as lshown in Fig. 4, the operator will, of course, turn the shaft A by means of the pivoted lever handle 33 so that, as the mesh with the'racks 21, the door member 14 is forced to its fully closed position. When this condition has been reached, the lever handle 33 is locked in position by means of a keeper 34 of well known form and the lead seal applied in the usual manner. In opening the door, the shaft A is rotated in a reverse direction and as the projections 31 finally engage the ends 32 of the keepers, continued rotation of the shaft will, through the instrumentality of said projections 31 force the door member 14 positively free of the otherdoor member 13 so that the door member can then be readily swung to fully open position.

The lower rack keeper 20 is forked at its left hand end, as viewed in Figs. 1 andl 2,

and haspivotallymounted within the fork, a dog 35 which, when in the position shown in Fig. 1, is adapted to prevent any opening movement of the door member 13 during the closing or *openingV movements of the door member 14.

In the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, the partial gears 130 are disposed eccentrically v.with respect to the axis of rotation of the shaft A and in such a manner that the distance from the axis `of rotation of the shaft A to the teeth of the gear 130 gradually decreases as the shaft is rotated in closing the door. This is done so that a variable leverage ratio is obtained with the maximum leverage at the final closing. movement of thev door when the resistance against closing is greatest. Similarly, in opening the door, the maximum leverage is obtained atthe beginning of the opening movement which is of great practical advantage in connection with refrigerator cars inasmuch -asl it is quite common for the doorsto be frozen together during the winter season.` Also, in

the construction illustrated in Fig. 5, the rack 121 is curved not only to compensatev Afor the bodily movements of the shaft A as the door member by. which it is carried gears 30 are rrotatedand.

along theirl meeting edges, a vertical rotary shaft mounted in bearings which are fixed on one of the doors near their meetingjline whereby the shaft is held from lateral movement relative to the door on which it is mounted, toothed gears fixed on the shaft near its ends and arranged beyond the top and bottom edges of the door, corresponding toothed racks fixed on the car body; and enlgageable by said gears, the solid and untoothed parts of said racks being arranged out of the paths of the solid parts of the gears so that the gears may pass the racksas the doors move to closed position, and means for turning said shaft.

2. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door pivoted to swing at one edge about a fixed vertical axis, the combination with upper and lower keepers secured to the outer face of the car wall above and below the door openingl, each of said keepers having a short rack extending outwardly from-the car wall in a plane perpendicular thereto, of a door-operating shaft provided posed above and below the upper and lower edges, respectively, of said door and in cooperative alinement with said keeper racks,

and bearings on said door near its free edge in which said shaft is mounted, said bearings confining said shaft to a rotatative movement only on said door, rotation and translation of the shaft gears inward and outward past the keeper racks completely effecting the final closing and initial opening movements of the door.

3. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door pivoted to swing at one edge about a fixed vertical axis, the combination with upper and lower keepers secured to the outer face of the car wall above and below the door opening, each of said keepershinged doors,

Y at its upper and, lower ends with gears dis- `hearings confining said shaft to a rotative the corresponding keeper rack to facilitate movement only on said door, rotation and proper registratlon of the gears and racks 10 translation of the shaft gears'inward and during final closing movements.

outward past the keeper racks completely In Witness that I claim the foregoing I effecting the final closing and initial openhave hereunto Subscribed my name this 25th ing movements of the door, each of said clay of Oct., 1917.

shaft gears having an elongated tooth adapted to initially engage the outer end of SVEN J. STRIID. 

